Prompts
by shumchele
Summary: Mixture of one shots, based on prompts. [Restarting from old account.] MikexRachel
1. Broadway

**Broadway.**

Mike stops in the middle of times square, looking up at the colourful billboards, one in particular catching his eye. He'd know that smile anywhere and he can't help but smile back, pulling his phone from his pocket to catch the billboard in a still photo. He knew the whole way through high school that her hard work and determination despite other people's mocking would be worth it.

He checks the piece of paper that Santana had given him when she visited Matt a few weeks back, Rachel's address scribbled messily onto it. He isn't sure at first why Santana thinks he wants it, until Matt and Santana list off everything they can think of as to why he does.

Okay, so he misses her, it's not a crime. They haven't seen each other for over a year, the odd phone conversation possibly but she's been busy. Plus, himself and Matt ended up half way across the country once school ended and he'll admit he's not the best at keeping in touch.

He hails a cab easily and reels the address of, realising she could possibly be doing a show tonight and that he could possibly have a long wait. He doesn't even know what to say to her when he does find her. Of course it's going to look strange that he's travelled alone to see her, Matt and Santana refusing the trip with him, instead heading off on their own getaway.

He watches the streets of New York whizz past the window and smiles, he can see why she fell in love with this city. As the taxi pulls up, he hands him the money, refusing the change and steps out onto the sidewalk, suddenly nervous. His hands clench at his side and he fights with himself to not run the other way.

He moves to take a step forward as the main door of her apartment block open and a tall, dark haired male steps out.

"Don't worry about it, Rach. See you in a few days, babe!" Comes the call and the male turns to look at him. "Sorry dude, didn't realise you were waiting to come in."

Mike steps forward quickly, shaking himself out of his silence. "Yeah… thanks."

Rachel turns on the stairs at the voice, it sounds so familiar but she knows shes kidding herself. Mike lets the door close behind him, turning and coming face to face with her, his mouth suddenly becoming dry.

"Mike…" She lets out a breath, before grinning. "You're here?"

He smiles back, because her smile is contagious and hes never been able to stop himself. "Hey."

She steps down the last few stairs in a hurry and hugs him tightly around the middle. "I've missed you."

He feels his heart drop at this a little, because he's missed her a whole lot more than hes's willing to admit. "I know."

She pulls him up to her apartment and offers him a drink, before sitting next to him, smiling once again up at him. "Did Santana give you my address?"

"Yeah, you don't mind do you?" He suddenly panics.

She laughs and rolls her eyes. "Of course I don't! I'm really glad you're here."

Mike hums quietly, "Good, I'm glad I'm here too." He takes a sip of his drink, before looking at her again. "So Broadway, huh? I always knew you could."

She blushes a little before she reaches for his arm. "Thank you."

Santana stands up, hollering as Rachel walks up to accept her award and Mike laughs loudly at her, because Santana just loves embarrassing her friends as much as she can. Mike looks to his side where Matt is stood with Ebony, Matt and Santana's two year old and is bouncing her around, Ebony cheering Rachel too.

"Thank you. This means so much." Rachel stops as she tries to think of who she needs to thank, before deciding they all know she's thankful and she wants to keep it short and sweet. "I just want to thank my two best friends and Ebony for all their support and my husband, Mike, thank you for always believing in me right back from high school. I love you."

Matt smiles at Mike, because he knows the taller male never gets old of hearing it and he also knows that Mike is the proudest of them all.


	2. Blood

**Blood.**

Mike's done a lot of crazy stuff in the past, whether people believe it or not. That's kind of one of the best things about being quiet and people not really paying attention to you. You get to observe more and then when you strike, no-one expects it.

When he had his thing with Brittany, he'd threatened more than a few freshman when they'd called her stupid or made fun of her. Brittany is Britt and just because she's a little slow doesn't mean people can bully her for it, not when she's nice to every single person she meets.

Whilst dating Tina, he'd stuck up for Kurt. The dude was Tina's best friend and anyway, the shit they were putting Hummel through was uncalled for. He also takes the shit for Tina when she upsets one of the fan clubs in the school and get's slushied for a whole week.

This though, this has to top it all.

It's freshman year in college and he's rooming with Puck. Santana, Tina and Rachel all share a larger dorm three floors up from them and the five are best friends, it's a little crazy.

Tina has this new boyfriend and he's perfect for her, but his friend? That's another matter completely.

Santana complains about him to the boys first when she wakes up one day to find him sat outside their door.

"He's a fucking creep man, I asked him what the hell he was doing sat outside our room at 8am and he just looked up at me and asked if Rachel was awake" She complains and that's enough to put the two boys on edge.

Tina is the next to say something and she tells her boyfriend too who promises he'll have a word. It just seems to get worse after that.

"Derek, I don't want to dance" Rachel shakes her head, pulling her arm from his grip as he tries to goad her to the dance floor.

"You dance with everyone but me" He complains.

"No I do not" She replies. "I just don't want to dance right now"

He rolls his eyes, heading towards the dance floor anyway and Rachel falls onto a chair between Puck and Mike who have been sat glaring at them during the exchange.

"No means no in boy language too right, or did I miss something?"

"It always means no" Puck ground out, "Rach, he's a creep, watch your back around him"

Rachel rolls her eyes because she's heard this a million times. "He's just friendly"

"No he's a massive creep with a big crush on you" Mike replies and Puck smirks over Rachel's head at him because he knows jealousy from Mike when he sees it.

"Whatever, he's just trying to fit in with us all" Rachel shrugs taking a long sip of her drink.

The night carries on as normal and Mike and Puck continue watching Derek follow Rachel around and the last thing either of them remembers, Rachel is dancing with her arms wrapped around Santana's neck, the Latina glaring whenever Derek would try and join.

"Wait, can you see them?" Mike suddenly sits up as he realises he's lost the two from his eye line.

Puck shakes his head. "Rach was there just a minute ago"

Mike quickly gets up from his seat and stalks his way to Santana who is flirting with some male at the bar. She glares at him as she grabs her shoulder lightly, turning her on her bar stool to face him.

"Where's Rachel?"

"She went to the toilet" Santana replies, "Can she not do that in private?"

Mike rolls his eyes, spinning her back to the man that's waiting patiently and heads off towards the girls bathroom in this place, stopping as he spots Derek with a girl pushed up the wall. It's only when he looks down he recognises the legs and he storms forward, the sound of Rachel's protests clouding any rational vision he has.

"Hey asshole, leave her the hell alone" Mike grabs Derek's shoulder, pulling him away and spinning him around to stand face to face with him.

"Chill out dude, we're just having a little fun"

"No, you're not" Mike snaps back, "She said no and that means no"

Derek rolls his eyes and Mike out right punches him in the jaw. Derek stands shocked for a moment before he's leaping at Mike, punching him back and Mike manages to get a few punches in here and there, but he's too aware of Rachel's cries for them to stop and the blood gushing from his nose.

"All right assholes, break it up" One of the bouncers breaks in and pulls Derek off of Mike, glaring at him as he pushes him towards the door of the club. "You're barred sunny and this time it sticks. I see you in here again and you'll be done for underage drinking"

"But he started it!" Derek protests on his way out.

"Don't want to hear it" The bouncer glares before turning back to where Mike is now standing with Rachel on her tip toes trying to inspect his face and Puck trying to move Rachel out of the way so he can deal with the blood. "Get your friend cleaned up and then you're out of here for the night and I don't want to see you back for the weekend"

Puck smiles at the bouncer, because it could have been worse, he could have done them for underage drinking too but he thinks that the bouncer knows why the fight went down.

"I'll sort him out, Rach" Puck promises. "You go find the others and let them know we've got to go"

Rachel opens her mouth to protest before nodding as Puck shoots her a look. Scurrying off she finds Santana still at the bar and explains what happens, before Santana is ditching the guy and heading to find Tina and Jake with her to explain to them what just happened. Tina hugs her friend tightly as Jake apologises over and over.

"Jake's heading back with us" Tina speaks up as they head for a taxi.

"I'm going to head with Noah and Mike" Rachel replies and Santana nods at her because she understands Rachel needs to talk with the latter.

Puck throws Mike some pain medication as they arrive home, before heading off to his room and Mike rests himself atop of the counter, taking them. Rachel pulls some ice from the freezer, wrapping it into a towel before she's resting herself between his legs, holding the ice to his cheek and nose.

"Thank you"

Mike nods softly because there isn't much to say.

"Why did you do it?" She asks.

"Because you're my best friend, Rach and the dudes a douche, didn't realise he had such an arm on him though" He gestures to his shirt that's covered in his blood. "I liked this shirt"

She grimaces a little, although a small chuckle escapes. "Take it off so I can hug you properly"

He raises his eyebrow, already fingering the buttons undone. "Miss Berry, I'm not sure where this is going"

She giggles pulling the shirt from his shoulders as he holds the ice for a moment and then her arms are wrapping around him, in a proper hug. "I've always wanted to be a damsel in distress and get saved by a knight on his big white horse"

He laughs, using his free arm to wrap around, bringing her closer.


	3. birthday

**Happy Birthday to you.**

Rachel, Tina and Santana had been planning today for the past 5 weeks and it was finally happening, Rachel just had to trust Santana and Tina to pull it off now. Puck and Sam had shaken their heads as they found out the plan.

"He won't want it to be a big deal, you know Mike" Sam tried, to which Santana glared at him.

"He's turning 21, it's a huge deal" She replied. "Look if you assholes don't want to help, that's fine, but we want this to be a birthday for him to remember and Rachel wants our help"

So that was it, tonight Rachel would be taking Mike to the top of the Rockefeller Centre, somewhere the two of them liked to visit a lot, where in actual fact they'd rented the whole top of it and set up a party inside and decorated the outside observatory platforms with lights. So maybe they could have planned something cheaper, but Rachel was getting her own income and the £1000 her father's sent her a month towards helping was just sitting in her account, she wasn't going to use it on herself, so she might as well spend it on her boyfriend, knowing for a fact that he was going to love this and remember it for the rest of his life.

Rachel smiled lightly as she awoke the morning of Mike's birthday, wrapped securely in his arms. He looked so peaceful, his head turned towards her, mouth slightly open, and eyelids fluttering as he dreamt. Lifting a hand, she ran it across his cheek lightly, before resting it on his shoulder to pull herself closer to him, wrapping one leg around his waist.

"Baby" Nothing. "Mike" Still nothing. Deciding some physical contact was needed to rouse him, she pressed a kiss to his lips, failing to keep the smile of her face as she felt him kiss back lightly, hands squeezing her waist. "Morning baby"

"Mmm, hey, what time is it?" He asked, voice rough as he stretched, turning onto his back causing her to go with him. She giggled as she ended up lay on top of him, sitting up before he could wrap his arms around her, keeping her there and lulling them back to sleep.

"It's a little after 9" She answered, now sat on his stomach, hands trailing a pattern along his chest.

"Too early, let's go back to sleep"

"No way, you'd be in class right now if it wasn't your birthday" She smacked his chest lightly. "Plus we need to get breakfast"

"I really don't want to leave this bed yet" He whined, adding a pout.

"I thought you'd say that, so Tina went to grab us iHop before she left for her lecture" She smiled, moving off him and heading for the door, opening it and grabbing the bag that was lay on the floor outside.

"I could get used to this" He smirked as she made her way back to the bed, pulling the two boxes out of the bag and laying them on him.

She glared at him as she climbed back onto the bed, taking her own box. "Well don't, and I'm not feeding you either"

"Spoilsport" He laughed, grabbing the box and sitting up himself, leaning in to press a kiss to her neck. "I love you"

"Happy Birthday" She replied, smiling.

"Where are we going?" Mike asked for the hundredth time as Rachel pulled him along the busy sidewalks of New York, his eyes closed shut as she made him promise not to peek.

"We're nearly there, just around this corner" She promised.

"I hope this isn't something really big, Rach. I told you not to make a huge deal, just spending the day with you was enough" He rambled on; she'd heard it quite a few times today.

When she'd finally made him get out of bed and head to central park for a birthday picnic and then when they'd spent the afternoon in Times Square, something that no matter how many times you sat there looking around, it was hard to take in. Then she'd rushed them home and told him they were heading to Serendipity 3 for dinner and to dress up, to which he'd made that statement again. Tina and Santana had finalised plans with her when she got ready, before promising her they'd be there for 8 and so would the boys. The party would only be small, maybe about 30 people, but she knew Mike would prefer it that way, he wasn't one for large crowds and most of the people invited were his friends from College and dance.

They entered the building and made their way straight for the lift as the security guard smiled at her, nodding.

"Can I open my eyes yet?"

Stepping out of the lift, she smiled as they finally made their way to where the party was. "Okay, you can open them now"

"SURPRISE!"

Mike shook his head a little, laughing as the room came into view, all his friends grinning back at him.

"You did this?" He asked, turning to Rachel who was grinning next to him.

"With the help of San and T" She answered, smiling as he leant down to kiss her gently.

"I love you"

"I love you" She smiled. "Now, go mingle, I can't keep you to myself all day"

He pouted a little, taking her hand. "You can mingle with me"

"I've mingled enough with your friends to last them a lifetime, I'll mingle with them later, I promise, go say hello" She laughed, pushing him away lightly. He finally left as Santana walked over, glaring at him.

"Thank you, for everything" Rachel smiled, hugging both of her best friends as they joined her with drinks.

"No problem" Santana grinned. "His present off me is in our flat"

"I left mine there too" Tina laughed as Santana began to snicker.

"What the hell did you two buy him?"

"Something that probably wouldn't be appropriate here" Santana smirked.

"Just please let me get really drunk so that I'm completely out of it tonight if you two are staying at our apartment" Tina replied.

"I don't even want to know"

* * *

"So this is where you've been hiding" Mike smiled as he found Rachel on one of the observatory decks, leaning against the gates to look down at the city.

"I'm not hiding" She answered, letting out a happy sigh as his arms wrapped around her, pulling her back to rest against him. "I was just admiring the view"

"I prefer my view" He whispered against her ear, before trailing kisses down to her neck.

"All right, need any more cheese with that?" She grinned.

He laughed against her skin, tightening his hold. "Thank you, for today, for everything"

"You don't have to thank me, I'm just glad you had a nice birthday"

"I had a perfect birthday" He clarified.

"I got you a present" She smiled, digging into the pocket of her jacket.

"Rae, no. This was enough, this must have cost a lot, and I don't need you to spend anything else on me"

"Tough, I already did" She answered, handing him the box. "It's not anything too big anyway, so quit whining"

Without unwrapping his arms from around her, he took the box out of her hands, lifting the lid carefully. A key lay inside, gleaming up at him.

"See, I told you it's nothing big. It's just a key to the apartment that my Dad's insisted on buying me. If you want to, then I want you to move in with me"

"Seriously?"

She nodded, turning her head to look at him. "I just thought it would be nice, I mean we practically live together anyway and Sam and Puck are moving up into our apartment to help T out when San leaves for her work placement, I thought that it was a given anyway, I just wanted to give you your own key"

He smiled, placing the lid back on and turning her in his arms so that they were face to face. "I can't wait to move in with you"

She grinned, leaning up to press a kiss to his lips. "I know it's something men always want to do on their own, you know providing for their girlfriends and stuff, but my Dad's wouldn't take no for an answer with the flat, they brought it with the both of us in mind. Daddy said it's your turn to cook at Christmas though"

"Deal" He laughed, pulling her in for another kiss. "I have plenty of time to provide for you"

"You have the rest of our lives" She agreed, giggling as he attacked her neck with kisses.

"I really do love you" He mumbled.

"I quite love you too"


	4. beach

**Beach.**

Santana grins as she makes her way into the girl's apartment, tickets in hand. She spots Tina first sat in the arm chair, legs over the arm and laptop on her lap, Finn's voice blasting into the room. They boys live two floors down, she doesn't ever understand why the two video chat.

She spots Mike next, leaving the kitchen, soda in one hand and cookie in the other. He stops when he sees Santana and quickly hides them behind his back with the sweetest smile he can manage. She rolls her eyes, waving him off.

"Where's Rach?"

"Wait, you sorted them?" Mike asks as he glances at Santana's hand.

She smiles, waving them a little. "Puck helped me confirm everything this morning and even managed to get us discounted business class seats because he was flirting with the woman dealing with us. I wanted to tell the girls, considering we're going in three days"

"You're kidding, business?" He replies in amazement and Santana just nods again, eyeing him. "RACH!"

"Mike! Shut the hell up" Finn's voice calls from the living room and Tina's giggles follow.

"Dick. Why doesn't he just move his lazy ass and come up here to see her instead of that stupid chat thing?"

Santana shrugs. "No idea"

Rachel emerges from the room at the furthest end of the corridor, one eyebrow raised. "What's all the shouting about?"

Mike points at Santana quickly and the Latina rolls her eyes at Mike's lack of backbone when it comes to his girlfriend.

"Come, sit, I have something to tell you guys" Santana grins, turning on her heel and heading into the living room. "Oi, lover boy, if you want to see T that bad, then get your ass up here"

Tina protests as the screen of her laptop is pushed closed, cutting the chat off. "What did you do that for?"

"For one, he lives three floors below us, go and see him and stop being lazy. Two, if you're going to persist on being lazy then at least take it to your bedroom. I have enough of Rae and Mike's lovey dovey crap, do not need you turning on me too"

"San, you're not pregnant are you?" Rachel bursts out as she sits next to Mike who has made himself comfortable on the sofa again. Santana laughs as Mike spits the soda in his mouth out and Rachel grimaces, glaring at him.

"No Rae, I'm not, but this is big too"

Tina sits up in sudden interest, waiting for her best friend to continue.

"The two of you need to start packing because we are going on holiday Friday"

"Are you joking?" Tina asks, because Santana's been known to pull crap like this before.

"No" She shakes her head. "Honest to god, Friday, you, Finn, me, Rae, Mike and Puck will all be flying business class to Maui"

"No way" Tina squeals. "That place is like paradise!"

Santana laughs as Tina gets up to hug her tightly, Rachel eyeing them.

"How much do I owe you?"

Santana shakes her head. "Nothing, consider the flight a Christmas present and my Dad owns a villa out there, has it's own private beach area too, so we're sorted"

"Really?" She asks, almost as if she doesn't believe it.

"Honestly" Santana smiles. "We'll be there for 8 days and I know you signed up for those classes Rae, but please, your voice does not need work from some amateur"

Rachel rolls her eyes, before she smiles. "Okay, I'm in. Thank you San"

"Thank the boys, it was their idea to get away for a little while"

* * *

The next three days are spent packing and Mike and Finn hardly complain because they get to see about 100 bikini's being tried on, Finn decides they need to go on holiday more.

They settle onto their first plane, the flight there is taking 14 hours with a connection in LA and Puck instantly puts his headphones in, reclining the seat down into it's bed position once the plane reaches 35,000 feet. Santana rolls her eyes and looks over at Finn and Tina who are still playing in amazement with the seats and then to Rachel and Mike who are giggling, already reclined into the bed position of their chairs. She decides to do the same and get some sleep before they arrive.

"This is amazing" Finn laughs as he finally decides on having his chair all the way back too, Tina following his lead.

"I can't believe we got these seats"

"Thank Puck" Santana replies.

The first day there, the girls spend the day tanning on the beach, they boys entertaining themselves with a game of football, before Puck finally snaps.

"Are you three just going to spend the whole 8 days tanning?"

"Of course not" Tina replies, "but we've only just got here, we have another 7 days to do other stuff"

Puck gets his way in the end and Santana opens the liquor cabinet, everyone having their fair share.

Santana and Tina retreat to their beds first and Finn isn't long after, following Tina. Puck looks at the last two people he has for company before he gives up too, wishing them goodnight.

Rachel finishes her drink up, before she stands up from the sofa, hand coming out to pull Mike too.

"Where are we going?" He asks, pushing himself up, arms wrapping around her as they begin to walk towards the door to leave the villa.

"I heard the star gazing on this beach is amazing" She smiles as they descend the steps and make their way to the beach. He lets her go as they reach a spot and he falls to lay down, she follows, curling against his side, head rested on his shoulder.

"They're so bright out here" He stares in amazement, "It's sad you don't get stuff like this in New York"

"They're beautiful" Rachel agrees.

"Not as beautiful as you" He replies and begins to laugh as she turns to look at him.

"So cliché"

He nods and she places a hand against his chest to push herself up face to face with him.

"Mike?"

"Hmmm?"

She took the opportunity to lean down and kiss him, smiling as his hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her on top of him.

"I love you" He whispered as they broke apart, he leant up to kiss her forehead.

"I love you" She answered honestly.


	5. heart

**Heart**

Rachel sees the signs of her relationship heading for trouble; they are way too familiar to her. She tries to cling on to every last thread of it as tightly as she can, but she knows it's no use.

Mike's never been one for talking about his feelings and even though it was one of the things Rachel loved about him at one time, it's annoying to her now. She just wants to know what he's thinking or for him to just give her something.

After three months of constantly walking on egg shells around him, Rachel decides that she needs to just be open and end things with him. She doesn't want too, at all, she loves Mike, she enjoys spending time with him, she's enjoyed their relationship, but she's sick of this constant knotting feeling in the pit of her stomach and the ache in her chest.

"Mike, we need to talk" She sit's opposite him at the kitchen table, the bag of things she'd packed lay at the door. Tina understands what's going on an offers Rachel a bed at her apartment until she manages to sort everything out.

He looks up at her from the notebook he has lay in front of him and she knows instantly that he knows what they're going to be talking about.

"I can't do this anymore, we need to end this" She announces, fingers fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

"Rach..."

She shakes her head, cutting him off. "No, this isn't working anymore, for the past three months I feel like I've been walking on egg shells around you and I'm not even sure why because you don't talk about whatever you're feeling"

"I'm sorry, I can fix this" He answers, reaching over for arm to which she pulls away. She needs to make sure contact is kept to a minimum otherwise she'll fall apart.

"I don't even know what needs fixing, Mike. I've tried so hard the past three months to just cling onto anything this relationship has left, but all its done is push you further away" She stands and heads to the other side of the table, to hug him quickly. "I love you and I've enjoyed everything about this relationship so much, but I need to leave"

She heads towards the kitchen door to pick her bag up, before she's heading for the front door.

"Rach, where are you going?"

"To stay with Tina until I can find somewhere else, I'll be around to pick the rest of my stuff up in a week or so" She answers as she turns to see him stood now, just outside of the kitchen door.

"Please don't do this, stay, we can talk and I'll fix everything that needs to be fixed. I love you, Rach" He pleads.

"If you loved me, then why are we even doing this?" She replies.

"I've just been stressed with work, I'm sorry; I just didn't want to pile it onto you. I didn't want this to happen" He takes a step towards her and she can already feel everything in her breaking. "Please, just don't give up on us"

She shakes her head lightly. "When we're back here in another three months, this is all just going to happen again and we're just going to keep hurting each other"

"We won't be here in three months" He promises. "I promise you, I will fix this, I'll fix everything that caused this, I just, I can't lose you, Rach"

She sighs as he reaches her, arms wrapping around her, bringing her tight against him.

"I love you" He mumbles into her hair and every wall she's built up crumbles. She knows as she thinks about it in her head that this is stupid, that they'll be back here soon enough.

"I'm still going to stay with Tina for a few days" She answers, "and then we can talk properly"

He looks a little crushed at the thought of her not being there for a few days and he lets her know that too, she just smiles sadly at him and pulls away from his arms heading for the door once more, grabbing her jacket as she passes.

"A few days" She repeats.

"How long are a few days?" He asks and she shrugs back.

"I honestly don't know, but I'll call you" She doesn't wait for another answer as she closes the door, heading towards the subway station to head towards Tina, texting said girl to let her know she was on her way.

Rachel wants to kick herself at how easy she gave in, wants to cry because she loves him and she wants nothing more than for this relationship to work and she knows he loves her too, but somewhere, something went wrong and she got her heartbroken.

 _You never really can fix my heart._


	6. cartoons

**Cartoons.**

Rachel awoke, eyes opening slowly as she yawned, confused for a minute as to exactly where she was, before the memory of last night came back to her. She frowned as she rolled over to the empty side of Mike's bed, although it was still warm to the touch so she knew he hadn't been up long.

Stretching, she sighed in happiness as she heard her back click, before sitting up and climbing out of bed, pulling the dress shirt Mike had worn the night before on. Turning to look at the clock, she frowned as 5am glared back at her in red, before she decided to just go and try and locate Mike.

The faint sound of the TV hinted her to living room and after doing a quick detour to the kitchen to grab a glass of water, she followed the sounds, smiling as the image of Mike curled up on the sofa, blanket over him came into view.

Resting her glass of water onto the coffee table, she smiled at him as she sat down, curling under the blanket too as he lifted it. His arms wrapped around her, bringing her closer against his chest and she smiled at the warmth.

"Why are you out here?" She asked lightly.

"I couldn't sleep and I didn't want to wake you up by fidgeting" He answered, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I thought watching TV for a while might have made me sleepier, but it's not"

She giggles a little, before she turns to press a kiss to his jaw. "Is something wrong?"

He shakes his head. "I just can't sleep, honestly"

They sit in silence and she watches as Spongebob runs around the screen. "Cartoons, really?"

"Hey, it's the only thing on at this time in the morning" He defended, nudging her head with his own as she laughed. "You make my shirt look good"

She blushed at that, turning to him. "I do?"

He let out a noise of content, leaning down to kiss her gently, one of his hands running the length of her thigh, gripping the bottom of the shirt.

"I thought you were watching cartoons?" She manages to murmur out as he trails his kisses down her neck.

"You distracted me" He answers easily, pulling her up and onto his lap. "Also, now you're awake, I don't have a need to watch them"

"Mmm" She answers, giggling as he tickles her waist lightly, before their lips are joined again. Pushing him back lightly, she smirks down at him. "I was about to go back to sleep"

"Liar" He replies, "The only way you're wanting to go back to that bed is with me"

"Someone has an ego" She laughs, before she's standing up, pulling him up too. "You are right though, I want you to come back to bed with me"

"You best not fall asleep" He replies.

"Sleep is the last thing on my mind" She smirks.

An hour later she smiles down at his sleeping figure curled around her, kissing his forehead lightly, glad to see him finally peaceful.


	7. clean

**Clean.**

Tina's known Rachel near enough her whole life and since leaving High School the two have grown closer. She knows that when the girl is anxious, she cleans, so she's a little worried when she lets herself into her best friend's apartment to see Rachel on her hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor.

"Hey Rae, what are you doing?"

"Mike had the boys over last night and now the floor needs cleaning" Rachel replies with a shrug and Tina turns on the spot.

"Living room and hallway too?"

Rachel nods as she stands up, throwing the water down the sink before she begins to clean the sink too, not paying attention to her best friend who has now perched herself on the table, eyes watching Rachel carefully.

After watching Rachel clean the sink and surrounding area, before moving to the doors of the cupboard, Tina finally cracks.

"What's going on?"

Rachel shakes her head. "Nothing, I'm just cleaning"

"You're excessively cleaning, Rae" Tina points out, "and you only do that when you have something really big you're avoiding, so spill"

Rachel drops the cloth, staying quiet for few moments, before she turns to Tina, eyes rimmed with tears and Tina instantly stands up, rushing towards her best friend to hug her tightly.

"Shit Rach, what the hell is going on?" Tina guides Rachel towards the sofa, sitting them both down. "You're scaring me"

"I missed my period" Rachel mutters and Tina knows where this is heading because damn, Rachel Berry is even perfect with her menstrual cycle.

"Have you done a test?"

Rachel nods and plays with her fingers in her lap, jumping as Tina nudges her. "This morning after Mike left for work"

"Yes or no?"

Rachel nods and whispers a yes, tears already brimming again. Tina lets out an excited squeal, hugging her friend tighter.

"Rach, that's brilliant! – Hey, why are you crying?"

Rachel wipes her eyes quickly. "Mike's career is taking off right now and I've just got the lead in a brilliant show, this wasn't planned, we haven't spoken about it. What if he leaves?"

Tina pushes Rachel to arms length and glares at her. "You've known Mike for how many years and you know how completely in love with you he is. You should not be doubting him"

"He could have a better life if he left though, not having to worry about a child"

"Rachel Berry, you shut your mouth right now" Tina snaps. "Maybe the two of you haven't spoken about having children yet and maybe it wasn't in your plan to become a Mom at 24 but it's happening. Mike wasn't in your plan and he's found his way in and you're happy, I've never seen you as happy as you are with him. Maybe Mike's career is just taking off but isn't that even better, this baby is going to come into a loving family who can support the baby and themselves"

Rachel nods lightly as she wipes the remaining tears from her face. "Your right"

"I always am" Tina grins. "Now, you need to tell Mike"

"I can't" Rachel shakes her head.

"Yes you can" Tina replies. "I'm expecting Puck to receive a call tonight from an excited Daddy to be and if he doesn't, I'll come around here and make you tell him"

 **[+]**

Puck gets the phone call at gone 8 that night and Tina can hear Mike's excited chatter from where she's curled up next to the former male. Puck turns to look at her and she smiles as he shakes his head, because of course Tina would know before Mike.

"That's really great dude! Congratulations"

Tina leans up to kiss his jaw because he has that look when he's thinking about Beth. She's eight now and whenever Shelby's in town Beth will come to visit and between her and Puck they talk on the phone twice a week. It's nice that Puck gets to see his daughter after Quinn lied to him about who had adopted her. He smiles down at her again, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Promise, T and I won't let another sole know until you do" Puck nods a few times, forgetting Mike can't see him. "Yeah, tomorrow's brilliant, we'll see you both at eight. Bye dude"

Puck hands up and smiles both arms pulling Tina closer. "Rachel's taking tomorrow off and wants us to head out for dinner with them"

 **[+]**

Tina rolls her eyes as she watches Rachel busy herself around the apartment. "Rach, for heavens sake, sit down"

Rachel shakes her head, picking up some more rubbish from the table and heading into the kitchen to bin it.

"Mike, sort her out" Tina warns rubbing her forehead because they go through this all the time. Puck sniggers from next to her as Mike stands up, following Rachel to the kitchen.

"Rae" Mike takes the rubbish from her, dumping it into the trash easily before he takes her arms, pulling her closer. "You need to slow it down"

"I just need something to do, I don't like sitting still"

"I know" He answers, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "But you're 38 weeks pregnant and this little one could make an appearance anytime, you need to be relaxing not rushing"

One hands comes to rest around her back, rubbing a spot he's figured out plays her up and is constantly a source of pain for her, the other resting on her swollen stomach, rubbing gently.

"I know you're anxious baby, so am I, but talk to me instead of rushing yourself around, please"

She nods a little. "Okay"

He smiles, leaning forward to press a kiss to her lips, the little one in her stomach obviously not happy with being left out as he kicks against Mike's hand. She laughs as he pulls away and leans down to press a kiss to her stomach too.


	8. Neighbours

**Neighbours**

Rachel decides New York isn't for her just after her 24th birthday. She'd been there for 6 years already and at first it was everything she had ever wanted, but as time drags on she realises how wrong she was. She finishes her role as Mimi in the revival of Rent, before she packs up and gets on a plane, heading for LA.

It's not that she wants to make it in LA, she doesn't want to be some huge movie star or whatever, she just wants to be there. The weather, the beaches, the people, everything was so different than New York and it's what she'd wanted all along.

Kurt, her best friend back in New York constantly texts her to make sure she's okay, to let her know if she ever wants to move back that he'll help her.

"I found a roommate" She grins one day as they decide to use Skype instead of their phones and Kurt prefers it because he can get a proper look at her to make sure she is really okay.

"You did? Please tell me you checked their criminal record, Rachel"

She rolls her eyes turning back to look at the laptop screen from where she'd been filling in an application form for some random job. "Kurt, not everyone out here is a criminal, she's actually a pretty cool girl and she seems nice enough"

"Oh, because "she seems nice enough" really puts me at complete ease. Rach, you don't even know her"

Rachel just shakes her head, turning back to the application form and ignoring her best friends rant.

* * *

Santana turns out to be the perfect housemate, the two build this friendship almost instantly and Santana's not afraid to tell Rachel the truth about things which is something Rachel has always wanted.

Kurt heads over for the weekend to set his mind at ease about Santana and the three end up getting wasted in the apartment and having the best night they've had in years.

"We have the hottest neighbours" Santana smirks one day as she closes the front door, dropping her bag at the back of the sofa.

"I wouldn't know..." Rachel raises her eyebrow as Santana drops next to her.

"You've never met them? How?"

"I don't know" Rachel shrugs. "I've never really bumped into anyone else in this block"

Santana rolls her eyes a little, before smirking once more. "Well I just did and god Rach, they are just, wanky. I invited them over tonight for a few drinks"

"Wait, what?!" Rachel backtracks in her head.

"Just some friendly drinks, you know, get to know our neighbours and everything. I totally have dibs on the chocolate hottie though" Santana grins, taking the control from the table and flicking the TV over.

The plans get changed about an hour before they're supposed to arrive, Santana deciding that they should probably all go out to a bar or something, so that's what happens. Rachel finishes getting ready, sending a text off to Kurt to let him know of these plans, knowing she'll get a reaction off of him.

The door gets knocked on as Rachel finishes putting her shoes on, perched on the back of the sofa and Santana heads to answer it.

"Hey" Santana grins at the both of them before she turns to look back at Rachel who is turning their iPod docking station off, before she heads towards the door too.

Rachel instantly smiles at the two men stood at the door, introducing herself. "Hey, I'm Rachel"

Santana's "chocolate hottie" introduces himself. "Matt"

The guy next to him seems a little shy as he smiles and answers with "Mike".

Santana and Matt instantly begin to date after that night and it's rare that Rachel will see Santana for longer than an hour each day, but she's happy for her friend so she doesn't mind so much.

The four keep Thursday nights at friend night and they always end up heading for the same bar they did in that first night and Mike and Rachel continue to get a little closer each time, but nothing ever comes of it and it's Santana that gets the most annoyed.

* * *

Mike is working one night and Rachel just got back from the singing class she was teaching and she finds Matt and Santana curled up on one of the sofas, watching another re-run of Scrubs; Santana is obsessed with that show.

After grabbing something to eat from the fridge, she goes to head towards her room to leave them in peace, only Santana has another idea and is calling her back to join them.

"What's going on with you and Mike?" She instantly asks as Rachel makes herself comfortable in one of the chairs.

"Nothing" Rachel replies, because honestly, there is nothing romantic going on between them, however much she wants it. "We're just friends, hanging out"

"Why isn't there anything going on between the two of you?" Matt asks and Rachel raises her eyebrow at him.

"I don't have an answer" She finally replies. "Look, we're obviously meant to be friends and that's fine"

Santana rolls her eyes. "Whatever. You both have wood for each other, why haven't you tried anything yet?"

Matt cuts Rachel off as she goes to reply. "He does like you; I've had this conversation with him. He's a shy guy though Rach"

* * *

"If you don't text me tonight to tell me that the two of you are finally an item, I will catch the first flight I can out there and make the two of you get your act together" Kurt's voice comes from her laptop as she stands in her closet, pulling her dress over her head.

"Okay" She shouts back. "Does this look okay?"

"You look gorgeous Rach, what time are you heading out?"

"In about ten minutes. Isn't it like 1am in New York, why are you still up?" She asks re-checking her make-up.

"Santana text me to let me know about your date" Is his simple answer.

* * *

Mike is a gentleman the whole night and it's basically just like any other time they hang out, except this time they're at this really romantic restaurant. They decide to head down to Venice beach after they've eaten because it's only a 10 minute drive and then they're running towards the ocean, laughing and Rachel's threatening to splash him if he gets any closer so he rolls his trousers up and slips his shoes off, heading into the ocean himself where he has a better reach of splashing her back.

She ends up chasing him around the empty beach as he splashes her and she finally catches him when he slows down, both of them falling down onto the sand, laughing.

"I've really enjoyed tonight" Rachel smiles turning her head to look at him.

"Me too" He answers with his own smile. "I probably should have asked you this a while ago..."

She answers him with a kiss because she knows he's still slightly shy about it and she doesn't want him to feel uncomfortable, not right now in this perfect moment.

* * *

"You do realise that you've kind of started moving in here" Rachel brings it up one afternoon as they're both enjoying their day off lay on her sofa, watching RENT. She's been noticing for a while, Santana things have been slowly moving towards the boys' apartment and Santana rarely spends the night in her own bed anymore and Mike's been the same towards the girls' apartment.

"Mhm, I noticed it the other day when you and San had your girly night and I showered and tried to find my blue t-shirt to wear and realised that most of my stuff was actually over here"

"Santana's moved into your apartment too"

"I like it" He answers.

She smiles, curling into his arms as he instinctively wraps them around her tighter. "Me too"

* * *

Three weeks later, Rachel is helping Santana pack the last of her stuff into the suitcase because it's easier to wheel it over like that then keep carrying a limited amount. Mike's finished grabbing his stuff and is currently unpacking in Rachel's room, Santana's room will be left as a guest one for when anyone stays, but it looks incredibly empty know that Santana's things have all been removed.

Rachel turns to Santana as she hears a little sniffle and quickly heads towards where her best friend is sat at the end of the bed on the floor, tears across her cheeks.

"San, why are you crying?"

"Because 10 months ago I'd only just left living with my family and now I've gotten so used to living with you and now that's changing and I'm living with a boy, I don't want to love with a boy" She sniffles.

Rachel giggles a little. "You're only moving 10ft across the hall, it's not like you're moving out of state and you can always come back and sleep here whenever you like. I hate to tell you, but you've basically been living with a boy for the past 4 months anyway"

Santana smiles a little, although she's still sniffling. "I've never been in a serious relationship before though and this is a huge step, what if I get it wrong"

"I keep thinking the same as you San, but that's how we learn and Matt's probably thinking the same thing about himself. We all still have each other; this is a good step forward in your life. Promise"

Santana nodded, wiping her eyes. "Okay, I think I'm ready"

Rachel smiled, standing up, grabbing Santana's case, wheeling it through the apartment to the front door. Santana followed closely behind, a sad smile on her face.

"I love you Rae"

"I love you too" She grinned hugging her friend tightly, before turning to Matt who was waiting for Santana at his own apartment door. "I'll see you tonight, for dinner"

Santana nodded once more, before taking her case and heading towards Matt who smiled at her before smiling at Rachel taking Santana's case from her. Shutting the door, Rachel took a deep breath before looking around.

Within the space of a year she'd found herself living with two different people, after living with Kurt for most of her New York life, she still finds it hard to fathom. Heading towards the bedroom, she smiles as she notices Mike lay on her bed, one arm behind his head as he continued to flick through the TV.

"I thought you were unpacking"

"I was" He smirked. "I got bored"

She shakes her head, jumping onto the bed next to him and curling against his body. "Lazy"

"Maybe, but I also knew that this way I'd get to cuddle you" He answers and she laughs.

"You can cuddle me anytime" She points out.

"I know, but this is the first cuddle of us being officially moved in together"

Back in New York she hated her neighbours, here, she'd found her love.


End file.
